


Sing to the Sky (Songs for Ohio)

by latetothepieshop



Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, bunch of random shit I don't know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-08 11:51:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7756816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/latetothepieshop/pseuds/latetothepieshop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you turn 16, a mark appears on your wrist. That mark matches with one person in the world. That person is your soulmate. </p>
<p>Josh moves to New Jersey, and meets Tyler, the boy with the matching aesthetic. </p>
<p>(this is a story that I wrote too late at night when there was nothing better to do with my hands. I'd love for you to read it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. it's fun to fantasize

Josh stared at the clock and his wrist simultaneously. It was coming today. He could feel his mark arriving. 

On your 16th birthday, you got a mark on your wrist. It was just a symbol, nothing that meant much of anything. Except for it meant a lot. The only other person on the earth with that same mark was your soulmate.

It wasn't particularly hard to find them, the mark would quickly start to influence your decisions, pulling you towards that person like a magnet. Finding your soulmate was inevitable, not that anybody bothered trying to avoid it. 

The mark slowly appeared on Josh's wrist. He cried as it happened. Not from sadness or pain, entirely joy and anticipation. It came slower than he expected, but by midnight, the three lines were prominently drawn on his wrist. 

|-/ 

••• 

Josh didn't feel anything behind the inky marks on his wrist for nearly 6 months. This was disappointing, but not strange. He knew this must mean he was older than his soulmate, but they would find each other quickly. He hoped. 

When he woke up the morning of December 1st, he could feel it. There was an electricity behind the mark on his wrist. His partner would receive their mark today. Josh's spirits were immediately through the roof, and he ran to his mom. 

••• 

Tyler's wrist had been itching for hours. He knew what it meant, everyone knew what their 16th birthday would mean. That didn't mean he was ready, especially not when the faintest spots of pigment began appearing on his arm. 

Throughout the day, the mark became more and more apparent. It wasn't until rather late though, that he could fully make out the marks on his wrist. 

|-/

••• 

A few weeks later, Josh was broken the rough news. He'd have to leave his hometown, and move to a new city in New Jersey. It was one of those things though, he couldn't just stay in Ohio alone. He'd move, and that was that. Maybe things would work out, maybe he'd meet his soulmate in New Jersey. 

••• 

Josh was starting his new school today. It was early February, and he had decided he really didn't care what the people at his new school thought of him, before he met any of them. He woke up rather late for his first day, and threw on an outfit that he deemed appropriately reflected his fuck-all attitude towards this new school, black jeans and a black hoodie. He roughly combed through his red curls with his fingers, and strolled out the door and to his car. 

Upon arriving to his new school, he found a parking spot that seemed inoffensive, and headed for the office to receive his new schedule. 

His day started with math, so he headed over there, knowing if he took too much time he'd end up late and possibly with a detention on his first day. He walked in just as the bell was ringing, and chose a seat against the side of the classroom.

The teacher and the rest of the class walked in shortly after, and Josh was thankful he wasn't approached immediately. A few boys had sat close behind him though, but Josh assumed he had just sat in front of them accidentally. 

The teacher got the class' attention. Unluckily for Josh, he was one of /those/ teachers. "So class," he started, "We have a new student joining us today. Josh, would you like to introduce yourself, and maybe tell us a few things about yourself?" 

Josh stood up slowly, resenting the teacher for making him do this. "Hi," he stuttered, "I'm Josh. I'm from Ohio, I like dogs and music." He sat down much faster than he had stood up. 

The teacher seemed unimpressed with a quick "Alright, everyone introduce yourselves to Josh, and please welcome him to Belleville." With that, he started the lesson. 

Most of the class ignored the teachers instructions and Josh. He was thankful for that, he wasn't too good at talking to people. The only ones who seemed remotely interested in Josh, were the boys who were (apparently not accidentally) seated behind Josh. 

The one with the short brown hair tapped Josh's shoulder. "Hey," he whispered, "I'm Tyler. I'm also from Ohio. I guess we have to start a band and sing all our songs about Ohio." He laughed, apprehensive of his own joke. 

Josh laughed back, the slight worry melting from Tyler's expression. "I'm Josh," he reintroduced, shaking Tyler's hand firmly. 

Josh stared at the boy for a moment. He was swimming in his massive sweater, equally as black as Josh's. They seemed to fit in each other's gazes, like a the last piece in the puzzle found a few weeks later under the couch cushion. 

The dramatic gaze was broken, by a short punk kid, who loudly introduced himself as Frank. Another boy, who looked like he hadn't showered since 1998 introduced himself as Gerard, and the bouncing emo kid was Pete. 

They quickly invited Josh to join their "squad" (as Pete called it affectionately, accepting a swat to the arm from Frank). Josh was hesitant, not quite willing to be involved with whatever they did, but he wasn't in any position to be rude to people. Also Tyler was really attractive, but that was another story. So, he accepted, very much to Pete's excitement, still earning smiles from the others, just with slightly less enthusiasm. 

Lunch rolled around, and Pete dragged Josh to the schoolyard, Frank, Gerard, and Tyler in suit. They stopped at an area covered in benches, tree stumps, and what looked vaguely like tombstones that were all in close proximity underneath the branches of a few big trees. Josh would describe this as beautiful if he didn't get such a murder-y vibe from the place. Still, he sat where Pete placed him, and tried his best to remember the many people whom he was introduced to. 

There was Ray, who had extremely curly hair and looked really annoyed with Gerard. Then he met Joe, who had slightly less curly hair, and was probably high. Then he met Ryan and Brendon, who were soulmates, and apparently attached at much more than the hip. According to Brendon, the collectively went by Ryden, but Josh was unsure of this, considering Ryan had been shaking his head furiously as Brendon explained this. Then there was Mikey, who was Gerard's brother, and Pete's soulmate, which seemed to be quite disappointing to Gerard, as he hoped for... better things for his little brother. Mikey ignored this however, as Gerard's soulmate was "a fucking midget punk kid who has too many illegal tattoos and can fuck off" (in Mikey's very own incredibly intelligent words to describe the one and only Frank Iero). There was also Patrick, who was a pretty small guy with a smile that made Josh want to hug him repeatedly, and Josh was not a hugger. 

So, Josh sat with the massive group whom he had befriended within few hours. There was a lot he had to worry about starting at this new school, yet he mainly focussed on how he would manage to remember everyone's names.


	2. you don't know my brain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks !! 
> 
> I'm completely overwhelmed with by the fact that people liked this so a huge thank you to everyone who read the first chapter !! 
> 
> This one is earlier than I planned but I got really excited

The thing was, Josh couldn't get Tyler out of his mind. He probably wasn't the most interesting character he had met, yet he seemed to emerge as the most important. Tyler had something about him. Something amazing. 

Josh had no clue Tyler felt the same way. He wanted to know everything about Josh. But he also wanted more than that. He couldn't understand. 

\--

The next day, Tyler and Josh once again seemed to dress identically. This seemed impressive, unless you considered the fact that they were once again both wearing black hoodies and black jeans. (Different ones, they might not be particularly interesting dressers but they still respected their personal hygiene and the sanctity of other people's noses). It also was unsurprising considering if you added both of their wardrobes together, you'd never know it came from two people, rather than one extremely boring dresser. 

They sat down in math, this time next to each other rather than one behind the other as it had been yesterday. The two hadn't ever talked by now, other than in large conversations with the "squad" that neither avidly participated in, with it being Josh's second day and Tyler being somewhere between shy and just generally disinterested. They had some sort of magnetic chemistry that they could only feel. It wasn't spoken, but they knew the other felt the same. 

\-- 

Lunch today was less introductions, more arguments. Josh wasn't the one arguing, but he was eager to watch the drama unfold. Pete was mad at Patrick for calling him a short emo (which made no sense anyways with Patrick being of of the shortest of the group). It wasn't a very interesting discussion, honestly, as neither party had much to argue on. The topic of conversation shifted quickly, and before Josh could think of a decent excuse, he had been forced/convinced to go to a party at Pete's house on Friday night, as a 'Welcome to Hell' bash type of thing. It would only be the "squad", so Josh supposed it couldn't be the worst thing to ever happen. 

\-- 

Several things happened between that day and Friday. Namely, Josh had gotten Tyler's phone number, and the two would stay up to ungodly hours of the night talking. Unbeknownst to the other, both sat with smiles plastered to their dimly lit faces. 

The other thing that happened was that Frank got another tattoo of a dog rather than of Gerard's name as he had promised, which didn't really upset anybody as Gerard didn't want Frank to have to get stuck with needles in his name (literally). Since nobody was mad (other than Frank's mom, who was trying so hard to keep Frank under control and not lose her shit, but could hardly succeed, and consequently payed for this tattoo), it was more a topic that made them all laugh for various reasons, including Frank who rarely washed his look of pure anger and malice off of his face. 

\-- 

All day on Friday, Pete was exceedingly chipper. This was an addition to his usual personality, which could be compared to a 5 year old on a fuckload of drugs, and was a true nightmare. Thankfully, school on Fridays was shortened, and Pete jetted the fuck home and got out of Josh's hair. 

Josh retreated to his own home, and put on a slightly nicer hoodie, slightly less rugged jeans, and mildly less ratted vans. He didn't clean up much, but he thought the mild differences made an impact. 

He showed up at Pete's house around 6. Mostly everyone had arrived by then, and they cheered as Josh walked in, as Pete wouldn't permit people to eat anything or to start drinking before the guest of honour arrived, which seemed courteous but was honestly mostly just annoying.  
One of the first people Josh noticed upon entry, was of course, none other than Tyler Joseph. Instead of keeping up with their shared aesthetic, Tyler was wearing a pair of basic black jeans, matched with a lavender sweater. While to most people, one colour change seems minor, Josh's heart stopped beating for a second as his gaze caught with the other boy's for a long second. 

\-- 

It was about 11 o'clock, and as at every party with only about 10 or so people in a pretty big house, people were drunk and bored. As things typically do when concerning the likes of Pete Wentz, things began to escalate quickly. 

"Come to the living room, everyone!! We're playing truth or dare!" Pete slurred. 

The group assembled quickly, everyone sitting crisscross on the carpet, the coffee table pushed to the corner of the room. 

"Since this is Josh's party, he can go first." Pete began, but then changed his mind. "Actually, I'll dare him first. Josh, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Cried Josh. 

"Okay, sit in Tyler's lap for the rest of the game!" Pete giggled, as Josh and Tyler blushed, but complied. 

They settled into a comfortable position, and the game continued. 

"Frank," Josh started, "I dare you to shove an entire tray of ice cubes down your pants!"

An hour or so later, the game was still going strong. Brendon and Ryan disappeared, having been sentenced to 'an hour in heaven' which was a lazy spin on seven minutes in heaven due to them already making out on the carpet and everyone wanting them gone. Gerard was not wearing pants anymore, showing nothing but his batman boxer briefs. Frank had sharpie doodles across his forehead. 

The game, which had once been truth or dare, had evolved from nobody choosing truth and Pete attempting to chicken out of running a lap around the street naked yelling "I LOVE MIKEY WAY" (another "brilliant" dare from none other than Mikey Way). The game was now affectionately titled "Do It You Fucking Pussy Ass Bitch or I'll Put Peanut Butter on Your Balls and Unleash All of Frank's Dogs on Them'. It was a work of art. 

The next dare came from Gerard. 

"Tyler, Josh," he said, barely able to form words without bursting into laughter and collapsing back into Frank's lap. "I dare you both to take off your shirt" More giggles erupted, from multiple sources at this point. 

Josh and Tyler both laughed, and started to peel off their shirts. 

"NO!" Gerard objected loudly. "Take off each other's shirts!" Another round of giggles swiftly followed. 

Josh and Tyler also laughed, and began to peel the shirt off the back of the other, Josh already straddling Tyler's lap, for the other part of the dare. As the shirts (hoodies, if you want to get technical) were pulled off and tossed to the floor, they both took long looks at the now exposed body along their own. Everyone laughed, until Tyler and Josh's eyes were drawn to the little marks on their wrists, which they held up, shocked. 

Nobody in that room had ever heard such a loud silence. 

Brendon and Ryan, clueless, successfully chose the worst possible time to emerge from the room Pete had sanctioned for them. They were both whispering to each other, until they came upon the eerie silence of the living room. Both of their eyes landed immediately on the same thing everyone else was stunned by. The wrists. 

The first word spoken in a few minutes came from Brendon quietly, but heard by all.

"Joshler"

Ryan slapped him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you liked it !! leave a comment about your thoughts if you have a moment, it would mean a lot to me !! 
> 
> thank you all, 
> 
> Alison


	3. bleed to know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks !!
> 
> Here's another chapter of whatever this is !! I'm still not 110% where this is going beyond here but it seems like people like it so far so I'm very happy about that !!

The following weekend was not one to be remembered. Josh and Tyler slept on opposite sides of Pete's house and were both picked up early. They equally stayed shut in all weekend. 

Tyler was in shock. He had been expecting his soulmate to be a male, but he was hoping not to meet them while still living in his parents house. He hadn't known Josh for very long, but the dizzy feeling he experienced every time he looked at Josh should have been a clue. Other people typically knew someone was their soulmate much sooner than they had made their discovery, as most people wore things other than oversized black sweaters. 

Tyler's brain spent the entire weekend going over everything, every moment of the past week. It was playing on a loop, never ending. He was conflicted, he was ready to fall in love with Josh, but he thought he should know better. 

Josh spent the weekend playing his drums with more passion that he had ever before. He was in shock and couldn't understand how to function. His body was as confused as he was and nothing felt right. 

He knew he could love Tyler. He had probably known it from that first moment in that stupid math class. He didn't know, however, if Tyler could ever love him. He had told Josh that he was Christian, and Josh couldn't know if he was homophobic and would hate him. 

He really hoped Tyler would never hate him. 

\---

Monday morning came like a thirteen year old boy who had just discovered what that mouth do (except with his hand and some shitty porn). Josh and Tyler were both hesitant to go to math, but school isn't optional, and Josh was weary about how this school dealt with people skipping class. They walked in one after another, entirely coincidentally. They sat in their usual seat, neither willing to confront the impending awkwardness of the situation quite yet. 

Neither spoke for the entire duration of the class. It wasn't until lunch that anything happened at all. They walked separately to the lunch spot, and sat slightly farther from one another than they had for the first week of their blossoming friendship. It had really been stomped on by a huge metaphorical blossom-hating boot. Gerard chose to be the one to address the situation. He felt kinda guilty, even though they'd need to find out at some point. 

"So, Josh. Tyler. You guys need to talk, since apparently neither of you could have been bothered over the weekend. I'm gonna send you off to the bench over by the fence where we won't be able to hear what you guys say. If you don't talk it out, I will take it upon myself to instigate a discussion with everyone present, and I'd doubt you guys would like that. Now, get lost." 

Josh and Tyler simultaneously stood up, slowly, yet with urgency. They paced one after another towards the bench, heads hanging low. 

Josh sat down first, Tyler joining him quickly. 

"So..." Tyler muttered, wanting to resolve the situation but never confident in his actions. 

"So..." Josh replied, in a similar tone. 

"I guess..." Tyler continued, "I just want to say I didn't mean to act so freaked out. The problem is, I was raised to think this-" he gestured toward Josh and himself "is all wrong. Not natural. I don't hate gay people, pretty much all my friends are gay..." Tyler rambled. 

"But do you hate me?" Josh squeaked unpleasantly. 

"No, I think it might be somewhat the opposite. It's just hard for me to wrap my head around."

"That's good then. I don't hate you either, by the way. I think you're really sweet."

Another quiet pause followed. 

Josh continued. "Would you be interested in maybe dating? We don't have to go too quickly, but I mean we were predestined to be together at some point." 

"Yeah- I mean yes. Yes I would like to date you, Josh." Tyler stuttered, gaining confidence as he spoke." 

"Sick!" Josh replied, overly eager. 

"Sweet dude. We should probably head back to the group." 

Tyler stood up, and grabbed Josh's hand to hoist him up as he stood. Neither bothered to let go. 

As they reappeared in front of the group, they were greeted with several people hushing Mikey and Pete as they called out "Gayyyyyyyyyyyyyy" as if they had planned it. (They probably had). 

No other comments were made, and Josh and Tyler sat on the same stump, fingers still laced together. As the bell rang and everyone headed inside, they ended up each under Gerard's shoulder as he walked up behind them. 

"I guess daddy Gee did a good job," Gerard said, with a wink.

Josh and Tyler reacted simultaneously, with a "that's fucking weird, Gerard" and ducking out and joining back together, far away from Gerard. 

Gerard also earned a fiesty, "Shut up Gerard you fucking bottom" from Frank. Gerard blushed, but went to shut his boyfriend up before he could ruin absolutely all of his friendships. 

\---

Later that week, Thursday night, Josh was laying on his bed debating whether to continue struggling with his homework, or to give up and throw a movie on, when his phone vibrated. Not many people texted Josh, and he pulled his phone out knowing there was high probability it was Tyler. 

Hey Josh!! What's up?

Not much, what about you? Josh replied 

Just chilling. 

Hey Josh? Tyler said immediately after his previous text. 

What!? Josh answered. 

I figured if we're dating now... We should go on a date. We could go to that Italian place on 15th street? Could I pick you up around 7 o'clock tomorrow night? 

Josh threw his phone across the bed whilst squealing, then retrieved it as quickly as possible to reply to Tyler. Yes! Of course!! See you then!!   
Actually I'll see you at school first, but I'll see you then too!! 

Tyler only replied with a laughing face emoji. 

Josh smiled a little bit, then threw his phone out the window in excitement. He then proceeded to run and go get it because he had to call someone. 

He dialled Pete's number and the phone was picked up on the first ring. Before Josh could begin to speak, Pete calmly spoke, "Oh hey Josh, wanna light something on fire?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it !! leave a comment with your opinion if you'd like!! I really appreciate kudos and comments, it honestly just makes my heart so warm and fuzzy :) 
> 
> lots of love


	4. hands held higher, we'll be on fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here is another chapter of this shit show!! thank you for reading this!! I hope you like it!!

When you look at Pete Wentz, there are certain things you'll see.  
A weird kid, clearly gay as fuck, kinda discomforting, shit disturber. 

Pay attention to that last one. 

Because what you wouldn't see is arson. Or someone willing to take shit disturbing so far that arson would become an issue. 

Some people might have known Pete's problematic attraction to extremes. Rather unfortunately, Josh wasn't one of those people. 

\---

Josh showed up to school Monday morning with the same attitude as always. Ready to fucking die. Maybe that's a bit extreme, but who doesn't love a good hyperbole. Especially when they joke about everyone's favourite subject, death!! 

As he got out of his car, he started to sense something wrong. For someone other than Josh, maybe who had even a glimpse of fucks to give and was more observant than someone trying to cross the road while playing Pokémon Go, the problem would've been obvious a few minutes ago, but to Josh, things were just now setting in. 

Someone had burnt down half the school. (Josh assumes that the half part was unintentional, rather the work of firemen.) 

Why nobody on the school board thought to alert any of the students or families was beyond Josh, but all the students were there, gathered in the yard, herded by a few teachers who looked equally frightened. Josh wove his way through the bunches of students to fund his group of friends. They were at the back of the pack, looking obnoxiously relaxed. Josh was confused, but when it came to this group, confusion was almost a primary feeling. 

"So," Josh said, in a near whisper. "What the fuck happened." 

The group looked at Pete to talk. Pete didn't say anything, but waved his fingers a beckoning motion that had mad mafia vibes. 

Josh was so done with this. He came here today to talk to everyone about how happy Tyler made him and how great everything was, also to get an education but that's not important. He wasn't here to deal with Pete's hard-on for crazy shit.

Josh followed Pete further away from the crowd. Pete kept his arm around Josh and spoke softly, yet confidently. 

"So, Josh, my man, my guy, my pal. So, I guess I'll be upfront. Yeah, I may or may not have fucked with all the chemicals I could get my hands on in the chemistry supply room, causing a pretty large fire. It may or may not have been completely on purpose because fuck the system. I say may or may not because I don't want you to be liable, Josh, because I may or may not go to jail and I don't want you to get in any trouble. We good?"

All Josh could say was "What the fuck man?"

Pete chuckled a bit, then calmly continued with, "Everyone else may or may not know. Let's head back." 

Josh was amazed by Pete being so laid back in this situation. Pete was an amazing human being. Mikey Way was incredibly unlucky to be so lucky. 

\---

As it turns out, if an emo fucker burns down your school, you get a break until the administration can find schools for the students to attend and not fuck up their career paths. 

Three days into the impromptu break, Josh and Tyler had spent 94% of it glued to each others’ hips. They spent one and a half days in Gerard and Mikey's basement along with all the other guys. It was messy and crazy, so Josh and Tyler stole the futon near the wall and laid cuddled up beside each other watching a vicious Mario kart tournament. 

Josh and Tyler hadn't gone farther than this. It might seem understandable to some, they'd only been together for a little over a week, or it might seem silly to some, they were soulmates after all. But considering neither had ever had a boyfriend before, they went slowly, unspoken but agreed upon. 

After finally being kicked out of the Ways’ basement, Tyler and Josh were forced to go their separate ways, devastatingly. It was only a few hours when they found each other holed up in Tyler’s basement, this time just the two of them. 

—-

They had been in the basement for hours, just talking, and laughing, with no plans to do anything other than admire one another and enjoy the other’s company.

Josh got up out of the blanket fort that they had built. It wasn't entirely structurally sound, and the sheet acting as a ceiling kept falling onto them, but it was a marvellous sight, two teenagers in their wonky fort. 

He walked across the room towards the bathroom. On his was there, he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks, and let out a loud gasp. Tyler urgently poked his head out from between the blankets, knocking down the “ceiling” as he did it. 

“What is it?” Tyler asked. 

“You didn't tell me you played the ukulele!?” Josh said, hand clutching his heart. 

“Oh, yeah, I guess I do.”

“I cant believe this.” Josh muttered, mostly to himself rather than to Tyler.  
“Will you sing to me? Please?” Josh asked, this time directed much more loudly to Tyler, in a begging tone. 

“I mean I’m not very good or anything,” Tyler mumbled. “But I guess I could try.”

Tyler picked up the uke. He took a deep breath as he held it up to his chest and started strumming, his soft voice following a few beats in. 

Somewhere over the rainbow  
Way up high  
And the dreams that you dreamed of  
Once in a lullaby

As Tyler sang, he completely relaxed. All signs of nervousness that had occupied his body when Josh first mentioned the ukulele disappeared, leaving a calm, beautiful boy singing to an awed Josh. 

Somewhere over the rainbow  
Blue birds fly  
And the dreams that you dreamed of  
Dreams really do come true ooh oh

Someday I'll wish upon a star  
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me  
Where trouble melts like lemon drops  
High above the chimney top  
That's where you'll find me

  

As Tyler put the instrument down and looked towards Josh, who was now sitting on the floor, a stressed look reappeared across his previously softened face. 

“Tyler,” Josh spoke after a long moment of silence, “That was amazing.”

The nervous look that had etched itself across Tyler’s face immediately disappeared. A small smile crept across his lips. 

Josh was mesmerized. Awestruck by how beautiful Tyler’s singing was, but absolutely mesmerized but the boy’s face, now more than he had been before. He stood up slowly and even more slowly, he closed the space between himself and Tyler. 

Tyler melted into the kiss, shifting to hold his hand on Josh’s cheek sweetly. 

The kiss lasted no more than 40 or so seconds, but it felt like much longer. They transitioned back into their fort where they spent the rest of the night as close to each other as possible, sleepily. 

Long after dark, all Josh could hear was Tyler breathing softly.

“Are you awake?” Josh whispered. 

Tyler’s reply(?) was a small shift in position that Josh assumed was a nod. 

“Could we really start a band?” 

Tyler shot up. “Well, I’ve been thinking and…” He started. 

He wouldn't stop for anything other than short replies from Josh for the rest of the night. They were starting a band, Josh supposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it actually means so much to me that people don't hate this. 
> 
> when I was little, I loved to write so much. I told everyone That I was gonna be a writer someday. then I completely stopped writing, for years. this is one of the first things I've written since I started trying to write again recently, and I'm so awed to see positive feedback. 
> 
> lots of love


	5. windows open now, make a sound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya folks!! Sorry this one is a bit late/short, but this weekend I went to see twenty one pilots at a festival and it was amazing !!! There were a lot of other really great bands too but my favourite band is twenty one pilots so obviously that was unreal!!! I hope you all enjoy this chapter !!

The band had no name. It had songs, Tyler was a writer, an amazing one at that, but the band had nothing organized. Josh played the drums alongside Tyler, who would sing, play the piano, play the ukulele, occasionally play the bass, and run around a lot. Josh would also backflip sometimes, but that needed work still. 

The band was popular among their friend group. That wasn't many people, but it was by far enough for them. 

The band held practices all night, pretty much every night. Messing around, playing songs, and just creating while having fun became Josh and Tyler’s favourite thing to do. 

—-

The school got it’s shit together much faster than expected. They ended up finding enough portable classrooms to replace the wing that had been burned down entirely. The students were back in school only three weeks after it had been set on fire. 

The announcement that school was to start back up was a major step back for Josh and Tyler’s band. Playing had been their main activity, and they spent most days doing so. The band was going to have to be put into second or third priority, as opposed to the first place position it had occupied since its creation. 

School was restarting on Monday, and even though the past three weeks were supposed to be school weeks, Josh, Tyler, and all the other students felt like they were being ripped off about having to go to school. Unfortunately, school was mandatory 

As school returned, Josh and Tyler quickly set into a groove. Josh would pick Tyler up and they'd drive to school together, singing along to the radio whilst laughing on the way. Then once they got to school, they'd go to first period math together, then split up for 2nd period before lunch. Tyler had English and Josh had Chemistry. Lunch would come, and they'd all go sit outside again (totally regardless of weather) with their big group. Then they'd separate again, as they had neither afternoon classes together, then they'd go back to one of their houses to make more music. 

\---

A few weeks after school made its unwelcome comeback, Tyler and Josh were going through a regular Tuesday. 

After math, Tyler, feeling unusually peppy this morning,, kissed Josh on the cheek and skipped away towards his English class. 

Pete punched Josh in the shoulder and screamed “PDA” then covered his eyes.

“Shut up, asshole. You and Mikey have full on made out in my backseat while I'm driving, you don't get to talk.”

Moments like these made Pete wish wheelies were still a thing, so he could keep a morsel of dignity (sort of) as he walked away from Josh as fast as his wheelie-less legs could carry him. 

—-

As everyone met up for lunch, Tyler ran up to Josh and grabbed him by the arm. 

“I think I’ve found a name for the band,” he panted. 

Josh spun around. “What is it?!”

Tyler held his finger up as his caught his breath for a second. “Well, we’re reading this play called All My Sons in english, and theres this dude who built a bunch of faulty airplane parts and a bunch of stuff happens and twenty one pilots died because this dude had to make a choice, and I feel like that’d be a good band name.”

“Oh my god dude that’s sick!”

“So you like it?”

Josh grabbed Tyler by the hand as he spoke softer than he had been before. “Of course I do.”

—-

So the band had a name. 

It also had its first gig. It wasn't gonna be huge, just a party Pete’s buddy was throwing. That didn't really matter to Josh or Tyler. 

—-

The night of the party rolled around and Josh and Tyler would both most likely be dead if it weren't for the tight grip they held on each other’s hands as they went in and set up their stuff in this random guy’s basement. 

They warmed up for a few moments and did a short sound check as the crowd gathered around them.

The first song started. They chose to open up with Ode to Sleep. Tyler was nervous to be singing such personal lyrics in front of his classmates, but the crowd was hyped, and Tyler fed off his energy. 

Josh’s anxiety was killing him, but he was having one of the best nights of his life. 

The song ended and the crowd cheered incredibly loudly. What nobody heard through the terrific roar was a group of cops busting into the party. They ran into the basement and started yelling for the crowd to quiet. People resisted, and kept partying, regardless of the current lack of music from Tyler and Josh, who were frozen in their places. In a bout of courage, Tyler grabbed Josh away from his drum set, walked him to the front of the makeshift stage, and bowed extravagantly. They then proceeded to grab as much of their equipment as they could hold and ran out the back door, while the remaining crowd was ushered up the stairs by the police. 

They made it out to Josh’s car, where they unloaded their full arms into the trunk, and drove away, leaving some of their stuff to be picked up the next day, unwilling to go back into the party. Right as they pulled away from the back alley where they had been parked, they noticed someone flagging them down. Josh pulled over, and Tyler rolled down his window. 

It was someone who both of them had probably met, but neither could remember his name. 

“Your band is really good guys,” he said. “I just wanted to ask, my uncle owns a bar, if you guys would play there sometimes? There’s a little stage and he’ll pay you.”

Josh and Tyler spoke at the same time. 

“We’d love to!!” 

“Cool,” the guy said. “I’ll talk to my uncle, then I’ll find you around the school. See you guys.”

They waved to each other, and the boys drive away. 

—-

The next morning, Josh woke up to his favourite sight in the world. Tyler sleeping, curled up beside him. Nothing had happened, just sleep. Sleeping cuddled up with Tyler was his favourite thing. Tyler was a lot of Josh’s favourites. 

Josh remembered what had woken him up, a knock on his bedroom door. He hopped up out of bed, and opened the door. His mom smiled sweetly. 

“Morning Josh. Sorry if I woke you, I just wanted to tell you I made breakfast. I’ll go, so you can get Tyler up and get dressed.”

Josh nodded sleepily, and his mom shut the door. 

He walked back over towards his bed. and shook the sleeping boy’s shoulder softly. Tyler’s eyes fluttered open, stunning Josh with his beauty. Josh smiled wide, and whispered, “Good morning.”

Tyler yawned and smiled in response. 

This was officially Josh’s favourite way to start a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whats up pals, did you like it? I really hope you did!! I really appreciate any input you might have!! Also, if you have any requests/suggestions for things I should write in please tell me and I'll do my best to write it !!
> 
> Lots of love


	6. best friends with my doubt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another chapter of this mess!!! Sorry if it's late, I've been absolutely swamped with schoolwork (and I've only been back for two weeks...) but anyways here you go!!

They got dressed and went downstairs for food. Josh’s mom had made french toast, which Josh and Tyler ate graciously. They then decided that they’d go and have a picnic in the park that afternoon. 

They packed up slowly and walked to the park, hand in hand. They found a big oak tree to set out their blanket beneath. It was a perfect spot, romantic, but also a lot of dogs would run up to them for them to pet if they sat there. A true dream location. 

As they ate their pb&j sandwiches, they were quiet, enjoying each other’s company and soaking in the beautiful day. 

All of a sudden, this motherfucker Pete Wentz walked up, swinging his arm as he held hands with Mikey. 

“Well isn’t it my favourite two… I don’t know what you guys are my favourite of. But you’re my favourite of something. Pete said as he sat down on the blanket Josh and Tyler were on, pulling Mikey over with him. “So how are we today?”

Josh audibly groaned. “Why are you here?” 

Pete used his free hand to dramatically move his hand over his heart. “I’m just enjoying this lovely day in the park with the lovely Mikey Way, why are YOU here? 

Tyler groaned this time. "Can you leave us alone?"

Pete gasped. "Fine! If you don't want to appreciate the company of me and my lovely boyfriend, we'll be leaving!" 

Mikey looked thankful. He mouthed an apology to Josh and Tyler, then scurried off behind his dramatic ass boyfriend. 

Tyler turned to Josh. "Poor Mikey." 

Josh leaned in for a kiss. Just as their lips met, Tyler's phone began buzzing aggressively. "Motherfucker." He pulled his phone out of his pocket, revealing his mom's name on the screen. "Hello?" Tyler's mom spoke too quietly for Josh to hear on the other end. "Okay mom, I'll be right there." 

Tyler sighed deeply. "So much for a nice day in the park. I'll see you later?" 

"You bet," Josh pecked Tyler on the lips and stood up, pulling Tyler up by the hand. He packed up their stuff and walked Tyler home. 

He decided to stop by Starbucks on his way home, because he was in a mood for 700 calories in a 6 dollar drink. As the barista placed his drink on the counter, she slammed her elbow into the espresso machine, causing her to throw the drink all over Josh. "FUCK!" She screamed. 

Josh, being overly polite, began apologizing profusely. 

The barista freaked out, having spilt the drink on a customer and this weird ass dude was apologizing to her. Her manager started yelling at the same time. "Debby! You did it again! And you need to stop swearing in front of customers!" 

Debby let out a short scream from being so overwhelmed. Her manager flipped a switch. "You know what Debby! You're fired! You're terrible at this job and I can't accept your unprofessionalism anymore! Leave now, you can come back tomorrow and collect your last pay check!" 

\---

20 minutes later, Josh found himself sitting on a park bench, still with his bag of things from the picnic with Tyler, consoling Debby as she cried. "This is the fifth job I've lost in the past year," she said between sobs. 

"It'll be okay," Josh said softly, stroking her hair. His words were pretty pathetic, but it was all he could think to say. 

"You really think so?" She sniffled. 

"Yeah, it'll be fine." He knew nothing about Debby, so for all he knew it wouldn't be fine, but they'd cross that bridge when they got to it.

—-

Saturday night came, and Josh happily spent it with Debby, watching movies on her couch. Their friendship had blossomed quickly, and they were extremely close, regardless of one having known each other for a few weeks. 

Josh had a great night, but what completely slipped his mind was Tyler. Usually this would be fine, time away from your boyfriend, but tonight was important. They had booked that kid from the party’s dad’s bar tonight. 

Josh didn't realize this until about 1 am. He shot up and grabbed his phone, which he hadn't touched since he got to Debby’s. 

42 missed calls from Tyler. Fuck. 

Josh called him right away. Tyler picked up on the third ring. 

“Oh my fucking god I am so sorry.” Josh started. 

“Doesn’t seem like it.” Josh could tell he’d been crying.   
Josh looked at Debby. She had no clue what was happening. “I’ve gotta go,” he told her, not putting down the phone. Tyler was just crying quietly on the other end. “I’m coming, babe. I’m so sorry.” 

He drove to Ty’s house, the phone still connected but neither talking. 

Tyler was in his room, devastated, and attempting to build up the courage to be angry. 

When Josh walked in, Tyler went from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds flat. His sadness boiled into rage as he saw Josh’s face. 

“So,” he said sassily. “How’s Debby? She must be really fucking great?”

Josh was confused. Tyler picked up on it quickly. “You know, because she’s so much more important than me and the band? Since you can’t even pick up your phone at her house? Since you managed to forget even though we rehearsed for it last night?”

“Ty, I’m so sorry. Is there anything, anything at all I can do to make it better?”

“Not unless you’ve got a time machine.”

Josh stayed silent. 

“You know how embarrassing it was? I showed up and tried to call you. I told them you were just driving and running a bit late. Then you never fucking showed up. They kept asking me to play. I played alone, and the crowd, which was only like 5 fucking people, none of them were paying attention. It was awful Josh. If I hadn't been so fucking mad at you, I really would've wished you had been there.”

“Tyler, I-”

Tyler cut him off. “Tyler what? You’re sorry? I fucking get it. But that doesn't change shit. You know what? Get the fuck out of my house. Go home. Or better yet, go see Debby. Just go away.”

Josh compiled. He didn't want to make Tyler any more mad than he already was. He really fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really hope y'all enjoyed that!! Once again please comment below if you have any feedback or requests/suggestions for things you want me to include! 
> 
> Lots of love!


	7. you should never trust the pantaloon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look who's back at it with a new chapter!!
> 
> I'm not sure how good this is but I really hope you enjoy it!! It's a little bit longer than usual, even though my chapters are usually pretty short.

It had been nearly a month since Tyler and Josh had spoken. Josh had barely talked to anyone actually. All his friends were Tyler’s friends more, other than Debby, but he felt far too guilty to talk to her. So, he was alone. 

Tyler didn't mean to be so mean to Josh. He was mad at him, but in the past weeks whenever Josh tried to talk to him, he just said something rude and walked away. Then Josh stopped trying. 

It didn't help that whatever wacky psychological shit created soulmates kept making them end up at the same place at the same time. If Josh was craving taco bell, Tyler was already there. If Tyler was craving a frappuccino, Josh was craving a caramel macchiato. They couldn't stay away from each other. 

The other issue happened to be the fact that soulmates couldn't really break up. Josh knew it was physically impossible to fall in love and get married and live happily ever after and all that shit with anyone who wasn't Tyler. He knew he'd make up with Tyler or be alone forever, with the latter being against what the universe had created soulmates for. 

\---

It was another awful Tuesday, and Josh was dreaded going to school. Actually, Josh dreaded pretty much everything now. Everywhere he went, he saw Tyler, everything he did made him think of Tyler. 

To make his awful day worse, Josh was running extremely late to school this morning. He jogged into the school, not looking where he was going, just heading in the general direction of math class. He hated math class, because he had abruptly needed to find a new seat, and the only one that was ever available was beside this weird kid named Mark who made Josh extremely uncomfortable. 

Josh's train of thought stopped abruptly when he slammed into something and landed ass first on the floor of the dirty school hallway. 

He looked up, and sighed deeply. Of fucking course. 

The face he looked up at belonged to none other than Mr. Tyler Robert Joseph. Motherfucker. 

By this time, the halls were completely empty, other than the two of them. They were late to class, and Josh was gonna have a huge bruise on his forehead from colliding with Tyler. 

To fuck things up more, the vice principal turned the corner into the hallway where they were both still sitting on the floor, shaken up from colliding. 

“Well, well, well. What do we have here,” he said as he approached the boys. 

“N-nothing,” Josh stumbled. 

“So cutting class is nothing to you? How about you boys come on down to detention after school today, won’t that be fun. Now hurry to class.” He tried to sound kind but all that came across was goblin. 

———

After school that day, Josh walked into the main office for his detention. He arrived at the same time as Tyler, who audibly groaned as he saw Josh. 

Josh’s heart died a little bit more. He had no idea Tyler… hated him? This thought had a hard time in Josh’s mind, it devastated his brain. 

Unluckily, they didn't have a choice not to be here, so they kept going into the office, unhappily. What kind of teacher gave detention for so little reason, anyways?

They were assigned to clean the cafeteria kitchen. When they walked in, they found out that this wasn't a commonly assigned task, because it was rank as hell in there. They set to scrubbing, silently. The vice principal repeatedly came and checked on them, as if they were gonna light the place up or something. 

It took them nearly two hours to clean the whole kitchen, and both of them promised to themselves to never eat anything that came anywhere near this disgusting kitchen.

When they got up to leave, the vice principal stopped them in their tracks. “No, wait here for a minute. I’m booking you two a couple sessions with the school counsellors.”

“Why?” Tyler asked. “We only ‘skipped’ class, this seems over the top.”

“Don’t think I wasn't paying attention, boys. I saw your sleeves rolled up, I saw the marks, but neither of you said a word to one another. And I know you aren’t just finding out now, I see the way you look at each other, like it does nothing but hurt. It’s not really my place, but honestly it makes me sad, so I’m not giving you a choice. The guidance counsellors can help fix this.” 

“Fuck,” Josh whispered to himself. 

———

The ‘therapy’ would start the next day. It was really just the counsellor who had no expertise in this domain but they thought they were helpful, and they might as well have that. 

The appointment was at 3:30. At 3:28, Tyler strolled into the office to see Josh already sitting in one of the small waiting room chairs. He decided to wait standing, but it was short lived as the guidance counsellor walked in and summoned them to her office. 

"So I hear you two are having some issues." 

Neither boy made a sound. The counsellor waited a few moments before beginning to speak again. 

"You know what? I'm tired of fucking asking a bunch of questions and getting no answers with every student in this school. I'm not going to start with you two. I'm gonna go, I'll be back in half an hour and by then you'll have talked it out, or I'll give you detention everyday for the next three weeks. See you soon."

Once again, neither boy spoke. The counsellor had left the room, leaving two silent teenagers. 

Josh decided to break the ice. "Someone really hates their job."

Tyler just looked at him for a moment, then started to laugh. He laughed for a good minute and a half, which feels much longer when only one person is laughing and another is sitting silently. Josh understood what was funny, but he didn't want to laugh. He wasn't sure enough of where he and Tyler stood. That's why they were there, he supposed. 

When Tyler stopped laughing, he took a long look at Josh. He had missed him this past month, and it upset him to see the sorrow implanted in Josh's face. 

"So how's Debby?" He said. He didn't mean to sound salty, but it was the only thing he could think of. 

"I wouldn't know, I haven't talked to her."

"Why not?" 

"Felt guilty I guess. If I hadn't been hanging out with her, you wouldn't hate me."

"Josh," Tyler was sad, suddenly. “I could never hate you. I never will."

"Really?" Josh began to choke back tears. "I miss you so much."

Tyler pulled Josh into a deep hug. "Me too."

After what felt like an hour, but was realistically only about 5 minutes of hugging, Tyler whispered in Josh's ear, "Will you be mine again?" 

"Of course," Josh choked out behind a small sob. He wasn't sure whether he was sobbing from joy or sadness. It was most likely from an overflow of emotions all of a sudden, but Josh was fully sobbing by now. 

"Hey, hey, it's okay. It'll all be okay."

Tyler wrapped his arm around the shorter boy's shoulders. Josh rested his head against Tyler's shoulder. They sat like this for quite a while. Both boys drifted off to sleep, bodies comforted by the warmth of the other. 

After their half hour was up, the guidance counsellor opened the door, holding a coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. "Ah fuck. Why do people keep falling asleep on my couch."

This startled the boys awake. They shared a questioning glance, both wondering how exactly this woman had a job counselling teenagers. 

\---

The next day at lunch, Josh timidly followed Tyler out to where his friends sat. This felt uncertain, as if they weren't Josh’s friends too. They came into sight of the group, and the small crowd let out cheers. 

Frank looked extremely pleased, which confused Tyler, as he didn't know Josh all that well. The truth unfolded as Mikey, Gerard, Brendon, and Ryan all opened their wallets and pulled out 10 bucks each to lay in Frank’s accepting hands. 

“Fuck you guys!” Tyler exclaimed. “What were the bets for?”

“We guessed how long it would take you two to get back together. Frank was the closest. 

“Who even said we’re back together?” Josh butted in. 

“Oh boys, you think you're so sly.” Brendon said, as if he were a mystical creature, insightfully looking down on the nature of boys. 

“Ignore him.” Ryan started. “You just wouldn't be here together right now if you weren't together like that. Soulmates don’t make good friends.”

“Oh.” Tyler sounded slightly defeated, as if he didn't want people to know he and Josh were together again. 

Tyler and Josh finally sat down, side by side and enjoyed each other’s company, and sort of enjoyed the company of their friends. That one wasn't always so constant. 

———

That night, Josh invited Tyler to his house, just to hang out. It had been so long since they had spoken, that they truly missed even the sound of the other’s voice. 

It was about 8 pm, and the boys were sitting in Josh’s front yard, watching cars drive by and enjoying their time. They were playing a stupid game, and counting the number of cars of each colour driving by. 

A red van turned the corner, and Josh practically yelled, “47 red!”

Tyler laughed at his boyfriend’s reaction. It felt nice to call Josh his boyfriend again. 

They watched the van drive by, only it didn’t. It pulled over and stopped. The passenger window rolled down, revealing Mikey Way riding shotgun and Pete driving. 

“Get in losers! We’re going on a date!”

“No way I’m getting in that car,” Tyler whispered. Josh laughed, but pulled Tyler up regardless. They might as well go. There was a slim chance it’d be fun. There was a much larger chance they'd die. You never know with boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo!
> 
> I really hoped you guys liked this!!
> 
> I'm pretty excited about how i;m going to continue this story, so hopefully you'll stay tuned!! 
> 
> by the way, i'm writing this as i post it, so if you have something you'd like me to add to the story please tell me!! 
> 
> lots of love !


	8. those crazy words they were spelling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> she's a little short ( even though all my chapters are ) but i think you'll like her

When the back door of Pete’s mom’s van opened, they realized what Pete had planned was not a double date. It was a quadruple date, which in Tyler’s opinion, should not exist. Frank, Gerard, Brendon, and Ryan were all seated in the backseats, laughing about something neither Tyler or Josh could figure out. 

The two boys abandoned their car counting game and reluctantly got in the van. Only one seat had been left open, so Tyler sat on Josh’s lap. Frank handed him a bottle of something Josh couldn't immediately recognize. He wasn't stupid though, and knew what it was. He took a swig, and passed the bottle to Tyler, who took a few long sips with a lot less hesitation than Josh. Their ride went like this, passing the bottle around, each of them getting more and more buzzed, except Pete, thankfully. 

The first stop was a bowling alley. They weren't allowed to play all 8 on one lane, so they had two lanes, splitting all the couples up. On the first lane, it was Pete, Tyler, Frank, and Ryan. The other was Brendon, Gerard, Mikey and Josh. 

None of them were very good bowlers. Especially not tipsy. 

For some ridiculous reason, they managed to get the bottle of mystery alcohol into the bowling alley. It didn't take very long for plain bowling to become a drinking game. The person who got the most points in a in their turn, one from each of their two lanes, got to assign a shot for someone else to take. 

Tyler and Josh were both unfortunately bad bowlers, and would rarely get the ball anywhere other than the gutter. Mikey and Pete were the least drunk, and were winning most of the turns. They had some sort of evil pact, and were both assigning the shots to Josh and Tyler. 

———

After the ten sets of bowling, Tyler had taken 6 shots, and Josh 7. On top of what they had had on route to the bowling alley, the boys were both pretty drunk, whereas the others were still for the most part only buzzed. 

Pete had called his brother to ride his bike the short distance between the Wentz household and the strip mall this bowling alley was in, so that he could take the van home, declaring that the boys would all walk to their next destination, which remained a mystery to Tyler and Josh. 

They left the bowling alley around 9:30. Josh was being led by Tyler, who was being led by Josh. It made sense to them, but to everyone else, they were just holding onto each other as they walked in jagged lines, nearly tripping on everything, but laughing their asses off as they did it. This was absolutely hilarious to Gerard, and Frank tried to shut him up, but ended up giggling just as much himself. 

They walked through the dimly lit streets until they found a Denny’s. They walked in, praying the waitresses wouldn't notice that they were drunk, and way too young to be in that state. 

They ordered a shit ton of pancakes, french toast, and waffles, to share. While they waited, they threw straws and straw wrappers at each other, laughing. They all felt good, happy. 

The food came, but you’d never know, because the massive pile of food was gone in less than a few minutes. The waitress looked disgusted, wondering how teenaged boys were so damn gross, every time. 

Mikey paid, because everyone else was too irresponsible to bring their wallets, including Pete who drove there, apparently without his licence. 

They walked out of the diner and Pete pulled the bottle out of his bag and handed it to Josh. Josh was pretty drunk so he took it without hesitation. They all walked to a park that was completely empty at this time of night. 

The park had a playground, so the boys sat around the top of the slide, passing the bottle around. They weren't being too loud or obnoxious, but there was a constant buzz of laughter radiating from the little playground in the dark. 

———

An hour later, they were still at the park, but this time they had all separated. Frank and Gerard were watching the stars, Pete and Mikey were actually playing on the park like children, Josh and Tyler were cuddling on a bench, while Ryan and Brendon were off doing god knows what. 

In an instant, faster than you could take a breath, the calm, happy scene flipped. Police sirens appeared, startling the boys. 

The lights stopped by the park, and cops got out of their cars. The boys in the park suddenly became extremely paranoid. Was there someone or something bad nearby? 

The police officers approached them guns pointed. As they came closer, one of them spoke. 

"Hands up where I can see 'em. Walk towards the fence." 

"W-what did we do?" Gerard asked, sounding like he was about to break out in sobs. 

“I got some reports of gang activity in this here park, and I don’t see a gang but I do see a bunch of teenagers whom I’m going to arrest anyways.”

“But if we’re obviously not a gang…” Ryan began to speak. 

“Are you drunk?” The officer snapped. 

“No sir.” Ryan said quickly, as convincingly as possible. 

“The cop seemed unsure, and went to Josh, who was standing beside Ryan. “Are you drunk?”

Josh too was scared shitless, but he wasn’t excellent at hiding his state. 

“No sir,” he said shakily. 

The cop looked unimpressed. “I’ll assume you're all drunk then? How old are you all? 16? 17?”

“Yes sir.” Ryan said. At this point there was no reason to lie. 

“Well, lying to an officer, underaged drinking, suspected gang activity. Turn around, all of you, hands behind your backs.”

Each of the boys felt like crying, but they complied. 

The cops cuffed them and led them back to the cars. They only had three cars with them, so they were all split up. In the car, Tyler was sobbing. He had tried to stay composed but with Josh sitting beside him, he broke down. 

“My parents are going to kill me, and I didn't even do anything wrong,” Tyler sobbed quietly. 

“I know babe, I know,” Josh whispered back. He wished he could hold Tyler and tell him everything was going to be okay. But sometimes you just can’t know those things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback is always appreciated !! lots of love


	9. its the same game today as it always is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! sorry its been like two weeks, ive been so focussed on other things, and it took a lot to write this the was i wanted. i really hope you enjoy it

It had been two weeks since that night. Tyler hadn't spoken to Josh. In fact, he hadn't spoken to anyone outside of his family, since he wasn’t allowed to leave his room for pretty much anything, and had been switched to online schooling. 

Tyler missed his friends, he missed human interaction. More than anything, he missed Josh. 

Josh’s parents hadn’t been so crazy. Sure, he was still grounded, but he was still allowed to talk to other human beings and to go to school. 

Tyler wished his parents would have taken it like that. Maybe he wouldn't be so depressed. 

The boys hadn't been charged with anything, as they clearly weren't a gang, they were only given warnings for underage drinking. They were all thankful, it could've been much worse, but it was still frustrating to be punished for something they were definitely not alone in doing. 

——–

Josh missed Tyler too much, he officially decided. He was gonna break Tyler out of his house prison. This decision landed him outside of Tyler's house at 3 am, throwing rocks at Tyler's widow. 

Tyler's parents had considered adding bars to his window so he wouldn't sneak out, but they'd read Harry Potter and weren't about to become the Dursleys, they wanted to be more discreet. They had inserted a special window stop that prevented him from getting anything other than a little bit of fresh air or a slight breeze. 

Having noticed the rocks, Tyler opened his window the few inches it would allow for. Josh tossed up a small envelope with a letter in it. 

It read: 

Hey Tyler,

I miss you. I really really miss you. I've barely talked to you in the past few months. I miss you too much. 

That's why I have a few propositions for you. Put pieces of black tape on your window so when I come by tomorrow afternoon I know which one we go for. 

1 piece - you're okay, you don't need rescuing 

2 pieces - you're not okay, i need to call the cops 

3 pieces - you're not okay, i need to break you out myself 

4 pieces - drop a letter out the window with another option and just put the tape so I know to look for it

I need you back. 

Talk to you soon, I hope. 

Josh 

 

Tyler wanted to scream and cry. He was so happy, but beyond scared. What if he got Josh back, only to lose him again? He couldn't go through that anymore. He'd been through that too many times. He couldn't put Josh through that again either. 

He checked out his window, scanning the darkness. Josh had left, he couldn't see the faint outline of the bike Josh had ridden to his house anymore. A tear slipped from his eye, all he wanted was Josh. 

He wasn't sure what to do. He ruled out option one the easiest. He didn't feel okay. He wasn't okay with this, what his parents were doing wasn't okay. He also ruled out option 2. Nothing illegal had happened and he didn't want his parents to find out he was communicating with the outside world. 

Option 3 seemed to be the best one Josh had offered. At the same time, it seemed so... extreme. He didn't know what would happen to him if he ran away. He also didn't think he was ready to find out. 

He guessed he'd have to write Josh a letter. He'd have to try to reason with his parents. He'd barely even talked to them since they bailed him out of jail that night. 

He wrote his letter to Josh. 

Dear Josh, 

I'm going to try to get myself out of here. I'm going to reason with my mom, and if that doesn't work... I don't know. But it's my best choice. I'm going to keep writing you letters, please keep writing them to me. 

I miss you so much. I hope I see you soon.

Tyler

He didn't have much to write. It was too hard to think. He slipped the envelope out of his window, and put four pieces of coloured black tape on his window. 

He didn't sleep very well that night. 

\-----

The next day, Tyler decided to take action. 

He knocked on the inside of his door, and called out to his mom. This felt like an insane thing to do, he felt trapped, as if he really were a prisoner. 

She came upstairs after having noticed the sound coming from his room, which took a few minutes. 

"Mom, I need to talk to you," Tyler said softly as he heard her approach. 

"Go ahead, Tyler," she said professionally, not opening the door. She hardly opened this door, only to give him food, and to monitor him as he did his schoolwork, since she had to give him a computer to do so. 

"I need to be let out of here. Not just my room I mean. The house. I need to go to school. Please." Tyler hated begging, but he didn't feel he had much of a choice. 

"Tyler, I don't know. The world has been influencing you so negatively." 

"Mom, I'm sorry. If you let me go back to school, I promise I'll come straight home every day. Please."

"Tyler, I don’t think I can let you back to spend more time with those boys who got you into all this" 

"He didn't they me!" Tyler nearly shouted. “They’re good people! I just can’t stay inside any more.”

"Tyler, I'll think about it, okay?" 

\---

The next morning, Tyler heard a knock on his door. He knew it wasn't a question, only a notice. She opened the door, a surprise to Tyler, expecting her to speak through his door again. She sat down on his bed, where he was lying under the covers still. 

"I called the pastor. He told me he didn't think what we’ve been doing to you is a good idea. He's probably right, we've been really cruel. You're going to go back to school, but you're coming straight home after, every day. No more of this band or these bad friends, okay?”

Tyler didn't know if he could agree to that. The band meant so much to him, even after the long hiatus it was currently under. But at the same time, he knew this was his only choice. “Thank you mom.” Tyler said sadly. 

\--- 

That night, he heard the surprisingly familiar sound of rocks against his windowsill. He shot out of bed immediately, darting to his window. He slid it open, and a piece of paper folded like a paper airplane flew in. Before Josh could ride his bike away, he leant down to the window and whispered a hushed “Wait” that was barely audible, but luckily Josh got the memo. 

Tyler carefully unfolded the paper. There wasn’t much written: I’ll wait. -Josh

Tyler’s pencil scurried along the paper he had already set out. Josh, I’ll see you Monday. I’m coming back, but we need to talk… I can’t be part of twenty one pilots anymore. I’m sorry. 

He could feel Josh’s heart break as he heard the sound of the sheet of paper being unfolded. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered out of the small window opening, into the dead silence of the night, to the boy down there holding back tears. 

Tyler went back to bed. It took him a long time to fall asleep. By the time his eyelids finally succumbed, and quit staring blankly at the ceiling, it was already into the hours of the early morning. As he slept, he dreamt about how Monday might go. He’d be lying if he said it was anything less than dreadful. He dreamt about other things too. Like how good it would feel when he got to hold Josh in his arms, no plans of letting go. He was worried that was only a dream. 

The memory of Josh in his mind felt more and more like a memory every day, less like reality. He was thankful that would change Monday, if all went smoothly. But he feared what else might change. And sadly, fear of change has never gotten anyone anywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, please leave a comment with any input or feedback!!  
> also, i'll try to make this fic funnier again so we'll see how that goes. 
> 
> hopefully it'll be less time before i get the next chapter up this time. i don't have anything prewritten because i havent had the time, so hopefully i can get back on a better schedule soon
> 
> lots of love


	10. no distraction to mask what is real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo!!!
> 
> It's been way too long, sadly. It's hard to write this fic now because theres nowhere for it to go, but to end. It hurts me to end this, but the fic will only get worse to be honest. So I guess we're looking at maybe one more chapter (because I have one mostly written, even though there's no story in it tbh) and then a long, probably more than one chapter's worth, epilogue. Overall, to be honest, this fic doesn't really have a plot and it's pretty shit, so I might as well finish it and hope my future fics actually have plots and not just be written because I'm in love with soulmate aus. 
> 
> Also, I dont believe I ever mentioned the fact that this fic has over 1000 hits and 100 kudos!! Especially for my first fic ever, thats totally insane!! Thank you so much, it means a lot to me!! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Monday morning came sooner than Tyler expected. He thought he would be excited. He thought that by the time he woke up to go back to school he would just be happy to leave the house, but all he wanted was to stay in the safety of his room. The only thing that dragged him out of bed was the thought of Josh’s smile and how if felt to hug Josh, and really just Josh as a whole.

He got ready in about 10 minutes, and just sat at his kitchen table for the rest of the 40 minutes he had allotted for getting ready this morning. This table felt so strangely unfamiliar, as somewhere he sat mostly every evening, he felt like he didn't belong at this table. 

His mom took him to school and left him outside of the student parking lot. He walked slowly towards the main office, where he had to go collect his schedule, even though it was the same as it was before. He hadn't actually been gone too long, but since he had been enrolled in online school, it was as if he was a new student. 

He walked into first period just a moment after everyone had taken their seats. Every set of eyes in the room turned to look in Tyler’s direction. 

Tyler felt the heat as if dozens of studio lights were pointed in his direction. This was probably among the worst feelings Tyler had felt, in his entire life. All he wanted was to curl up into a ball and stay there for the rest of his life. 

There were, however, a few less-negative expressions. Frank, Gerard, and Pete were sitting in their usual spots, awestruck. They looked happy to see their friend again, but apparently Josh didn't mention that he would be coming back. Speaking of Josh, he was sitting in his seat with the biggest smile he’d seen on his sweet, soft face. That smile, for the second time that day, forced Tyler to stand tall and walk over to a chair. Luckily, the seat right behind Pete and Josh wasn’t taken, so Tyler dropped his bag, and looked straight down at the desk as he sat. He kept his gaze fixed for the entire class, praying that the stares would be averted. Most did, but some stayed, and Tyler could feel them on his back. 

———

The other three classes that day repeated the same horrible experience. Even lunch, people stared at him, seemingly unable to focus on their own lives. 

Tyler felt like even more of an outsider than ever. He had never really belonged, even when he was on the basketball team, but now, way more than ever before, he was a black sheep. 

Among his friend group, things were okay. Everyone was glad to see him, everyone was welcoming of their old friend. He hadn't been gone quite long enough to be considered an old friend, but he felt like a stranger among them. Things were awkward, nobody knew how to act around him. 

Josh. Josh held Tyler as close as possible for as long as he could. Tyler felt safe in his arms, but he hurt, knowing this would be all he could get. 

———

Tyler settled into a painful routine. He’d wake up, get ready quickly. Then he would sit down, and think. He spent way too much time thinking, and his thoughts were all poisonous. 

Josh had gotten back into the habit of driving Tyler to and from school. It was nice to spend a few extra minutes together in the day, but they would rarely talk. The silence was peaceful though, and although Tyler lived most of his life in silence, it was nice to feel the peace of Josh's company. 

School never stopped being dreadful. He dropped as a main topic of gossip, but he was never accepted in the way that he should have been. Nobody outside his friend group spoke to him. People would move out of his way as he walked down the hall. He wished it was out of respect, but he knew people just felt purely uncomfortable around him. He began to feel uncomfortable around himself. 

He nearly stopped talking altogether. He'd talk if he had to, but he no longer felt any pleasure in talking to his friends, about anything, whether it were sharing stories or simply talking about problems. He just didn't want to, and nobody cared enough to push him. 

Josh would take him home, and we would confine himself to his room for the rest of the night, thinking more. 

He missed the weeks off of school back when Pete had decided to be a pyromaniacal idiot. He was so happy. He longed for that feeling to return, spending nearly every waking hour with Josh. 

A lot of his hours thinking were dedicated to Josh. He realized fully how much he loved Josh. The time he had spent angry had been so foolish. He loved Josh with every ounce of his being. 

———

This routine, which made him loathe every day, lasted all the way through the end of the school year. Tyler was thankful for the year to come to an end, what with everything bad that had happened. He only had one more year of high school, and after that, he prayed, he'd be able to make something of himself. He was unsure of what he wanted, but he wanted to be happy, more than anything. 

Tyler dreaded the summer. He didn't know what would happen, but he worried he would find himself locked up again. He didn't know if he could handle that, and pondered the idea of running away. He laughed at the thought of himself trying to survive on the streets, and the idea found itself thrown out, ridiculous. 

Tyler’s parents had become far less angry, realizing Tyler really was responsible and reliable. They hadn't become any more relaxed, and Tyler was still obligated to follow their strict rules. This was rather discouraging for Tyler, he worried that his efforts to be the perfect child they asked him to be were pointless, and perhaps he might be better to rebel. He scoffed at the idea once again, Tyler was not a particularly rebellious person. 

———

Josh dropped Tyler off at home on the last day of school. Tyler leaned across the front seat and kissed Josh lovingly. He moved to get out of the car, but stopped, and grabbed Josh’s hand, looking deeply at his mocha eyes, for what he worried might be the last time for the following months. He took a deep breath, and opened the car door. 

“I’ll see you soon, I hope.” Tyler said, choking back tears that he hadn't been expecting. 

Josh smiled, but only looked sad. “I’ll see you Ty, I promise.”

“I love you, Josh,” Tyler whispered, loud enough for Josh to hear, but not wanting to pierce the air with such private words. 

"I love you too.” Josh replied, with a genuine smile. 

Tyler smiled back, something that had become rare. He shut the car door, and scampered into his house, praying his mom wouldn't notice the momentary delay, or the crimson shade of his smiling cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm so sorry it's been such a long time since I've posted. I feel really guilty about it because I update my group chat fic (plug: please read it) every day, pretty consistently. I know I've talked about the lack of updates to this fic over there a lot but I guess a lot of the same people read the two. Anyways, comments are always very very appreciated!! I hope that it isn't so long until I update again!!
> 
> Lots of love


	11. ...

I feel like I owe it to everyone who read this to tell you why it's been such a long time since I've updated. 

I never thought I'd write a chapter like this, one that wasn't content and only excuses. I sound like such a drama queen to act like this is even real content and not just some silly story in which I used celebrities names and descriptions to create a work of lazy fiction. That's all fics are. But here I am. I see this kind of post almost every time I come on this website, and I never really understood them until now. 

Here's the thing. I don't really want to write this fic right now. I don't mean to sound like I have no commitment to anything, but I just need to explain why, I guess. 

When I started this fic, long before I posted the first chapter, I was proud of it. When I finally got the balls to put it on the internet, I would get the emails about kudos and comments, and I'd check every night and it made my day every time to see that people were clicking on my story. It was honestly my baby, even when I started disappointing group chat (my group chat fic that has (95% of the time) daily updates) , I wanted to send people here to read this work I was so intensely proud of. 

At some point though, that changed. I stopped writing this because my ideas of where the story should go just weren't working out. I still know how this fic is going to end, but I just haven't written it, and I don't know when I will. As I desperately tried to continue the story, my view of it completely changed. I really don't like this anymore. I'm in no way proud of it whatsoever. 

For a while I was ready to delete this fic, but somebody told me I should never delete a work, especially not the first one I've ever posted. So I didn't. But I did just leave it alone. 

These past couple months, I haven't really wanted to spend my time on this fic. When I have free time, I don't use it on this fic anymore. For a while, I read fics non stop, lately it's been a lot of watching youtube instead. I still write, there's no other way to have a daily updates fic, and when I have more time to write I have other fics that I'm more interested in. I don't want to post those until they're completely finished, I don't want the same thing to happen to them as what happened to this one. 

As for the future of this fic, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I hope it gets finished at some point, and maybe it'll be soon, maybe it'll be a long time. 

There's nothing else I can think of to say. If you have anything to say please leave a comment. This is really hard to write this on a work I loved for so long. 

Goodbye, for now


End file.
